It's got to be above freezing for quite a while if your whole house is frozen." - Plumber on when to expect frozen pipes to thaw

After nearly
three days below freezing, temperatures should climb above 32 degrees
Wednesday, and that could be the start of your biggest trouble.

As long as pipes are frozen, bursts won't reveal themselves. But when
the thermometer gets into the 40s for a few hours Wednesday, many Alabama
households will be calling plumbers like H.C. Blake in Huntsville to fix found
leaks.

Jim Baston, H.C. Blake owner, said he expects a backlog of
burst pipe requests to start piling up as the pipes begin to thaw.

"It probably will start in the morning. . . . but it could
be in the afternoon. It's got to be above freezing for quite a while if your
whole house is frozen," he said.

Burst pipes have already been showing up Tuesday setting off
fire alarms routinely throughout the day. Temperatures remained below
freezing for the second straight day. The mercury will have been at 32 or lower
for more than 60 hours before it's expected to push into the 40s Wednesday.

The deep freeze has forced many schools to cancel or delay
classes and create winter wonders not experienced in decades. Some Huntsville High
students reported their car doors - which they opened in warm garages before
leaving home - had frozen shut when they arrived on campus Monday after a two-hour
delayed opening.

Temperatures were
in single digits for nine hours from Monday night into Tuesday morning,
bottoming out at 5 degrees between 5 and 8 a.m. That tied a record low set in
1912. Monday's low of 8 degrees, just before midnight, eclipsed the previous
record of 10 degrees set in 1959.

The coldest temp
on record for January is minus 11, set in 1985 and 1966. Climate records show there
have been 16 times the temperatures fell into negative digits in January. Normal highs for this time of year are around 50, and normal lows are around 32.

Baston said he hopes people with burst pipes will be patient
and realize there will be widespread problems once the thaw begins.

"You just need to get on the list because that's how it's
going to be," he said.

Baston's advice if you're worried about frozen pipes? Open faucets and turn the meter
off at the street. Monitor the temperature until it is above 32 degrees. Then, one person can monitor for leaks in the house while another turns water back on at the street.

The most common places where pipes will freeze are along
outside walls and attics, he said.

Capt. Russ Kennington, public information officer for
Madison Fire and Rescue, said as of 2:30 p.m. his department responded to eight
frozen pipe and related calls. Two were to businesses, one to a residence
and the rest were to multi-family housing. Some were standard water lines and
some were fire sprinkler systems, he said.

"Most of the calls involved sheetrock damage and water
damage to contents in the affected areas," Kennington said. "One call involved
having to shut down the electrical supply to the structure due to the proximity
of the water damage to electrical wiring within the structure and the increased
fire risk it caused."

Most leaks were in attics because they froze overnight as
temps remained in single digits for hours but thawed enough in the day to get
water flowing again, he said.

Basically, all the fire department can do is shut off the
water supply and instruct building owners to call a plumber, Kennington said. In some situations
they shut off power to avoid the water leaks to spark an electrical fire. The department also notifies places like nursing homes to be
on alert because their sprinkler systems might malfunction.